不消 (bù xiāo) — need not, there is no need to

Definition

Classical / literary auxiliary meaning 'need not, there's no need to' — appears mostly in set phrases such as 不消说 ('needless to say') and 不消…了. In modern spoken Chinese use 不用 instead.

auxiliary verb
need notthere is no need to

Examples

  • ，不消。
    Zhè diǎn xiǎo shì, bù xiāo má fan bié rén le.
    This small matter, there's no need to trouble others.
  • ，不消。
    Nǐ fàng xīn, tā bù xiāo nǐ cāo xīn yě zuò de hǎo.
    Don't worry, he can do it well without you having to worry.
  • ，不消。
    Yǐ jīng jiě jué le, bù xiāo zài jiě shì.
    It's already resolved; there's no need to explain further.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

不bùnot
消xiāoneed

不 means not and 消 means need, so together they mean need not.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The picture in 不 originally showed a flower’s calyx; the “no” sense came later from a related character, not from this picture.

Open 不 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
氵Written in full as水shuǐwater
Sound part声符shēngfú
肖
肖xiào消xiāo
Same sound today

消 has 氵 (water) beside 肖. The water part connects to putting out or making something vanish, and 肖 gives the sound.

Open 消 →

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